The Women in STEM Society at Essex was founded in 2020, with the intention of creating a supportive environment and a platform for under-represented individuals in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics degrees. Our society focuses on reaching out to women and non-binary people, however all of our events and socials are open to anybody who is passionate about celebrating STEM!
The main aim of the society is to promote diversity, inclusivity, and belonging in STEM. We aim to provide opportunities for individuals to learn more about STEM, and to inspire others to pursue a STEM career. Our society often provides opportunities to increase our member’s employability skills, by providing CV and LinkedIn workshops, and working closely with our university’s career services.
We often work with numerous societies around the university, mainly women-centred societies to host events that focus on women’s issues, such as the gender pay gap and starting a family whilst having a career. We also work with external organisations, such as career talks from local companies.
We aim to host employability events regularly to get members thinking about their careers, or to boost their current career trajectory. In the 21-22 year, we hosted a networking mixer where our members watched a personalised message about what networking is and tips on how to network from networking expert Kelly Hoey, and then partook in speed networking with one another. We also hosted a presentation workshop, in which we collaborated with the Public Speaking Society, and our members were able to practice giving presentations.
In the 21-22, 22-23 and 23-24 academic years, we hosted LinkedIn workshops for our members to introduce them to the platform, or provide tips for members with existing profiles. These included a presentation and a Q&A session, followed by headshots from Rebel, the media team at our student’s union. Members were able to use their headshots as profile pictures on their LinkedIn accounts.
We have collaborated with the Careers team at our university for CV and Cover Letter workshops and our 23-24 LinkedIn workshop, to broaden the information shared to our members.
We aim to do outreach activities with different communities to encourage more women and young girls to join in STEM activities and pursue a STEM career. In the 22-23 academic year, we were involved in the Einstein project handled by our student union’s volunteering team, teaching children about science through hands-on experiments.
In the 23-24 academic year, we visited a local primary school during their STEM week in the spring term. We delivered different sessions to a class of Year 4 students covering what STEM is about and potential careers, the Oobleck experiment and one focused on coding. We introduced concepts followed by activities, such as students in a coding activity acting as a programmer and a computer in pairs, with the programmer giving the computer clear instructions to follow.
We aim to host at least one roundtable discussion each year and have held four since the 2021-2022 academic year. These events aim to focus on issues that primarily affect women, but the events were attended by people of all genders which enabled us to have a really impactful discussion. In 2021-22 we collaborated with women-aligned societies and communities such as the women’s network and feminist society, as well as cultural societies, and the hidden disabilities society. This has been continued for the 22-23 and 23-24 roundtable discussions.
These roundtable discussions provided a safe space for everybody to discuss issues that often make us feel alone. It provided reassurance that none of us were actually alone in these issues we faced, and it raised a discussion as to how things could be changed at the university, or in wider society to make life better for women. Some discussion topics included: body positivity, safety on and off campus, being a woman in a STEM career, mental health and wellbeing, career vs having a family, and cancel culture.
As part of these roundtable discussions, we fundraised for charities that aim to support women. These include Women’s Aid, a national charity that aims to end domestic abuse, and CARA Essex, a local charity that works with survivors of sexual violence.
We actively aim to engage with International Women's Day, International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and other women's empowerment days.
For International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2022, we invited six panellists including university staff members, PhD students and alumni for a panel discussion. The panellists discussed their career and answered questions about when they faced any prejudice for being a woman in STEM. It was very interesting to hear how STEM careers have become more inclusive over time, but how there is still some prejudice towards women in certain career paths. After hearing from the panellists, we hosted a Q&A session.
For International Women’s Day 2023, we raised funds for Women’s Aid through a bake sale with the Feminist Society, and hosted a giveaway on International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2023 with STEM goodies.
To join the society, please get your membership on the Essex SU website here.
If you have any questions please email us at wistemessex@outlook.com or drop us a message on one of our socials:
For more information, please view our webpage on the Essex SU website.
